State DMV planning to shut down for a week to switch over to a new computer system.

The Department of Motor Vehicles will shut down for a week next month or in September — with the sole exception of driver licensing services — to switch to a new computer system under a $25 million project that's been in the works for the better part of a decade, a department spokesman confirmed Monday.

Planners say that the new system will make more services available online to customers, such as reprinting registration certificates on a home computer and ordering replacement plates — and, in a later phase of the project, people would be able to notify DMV from home of a change of address.

The DMV shutdown will happen in mid-to-late August or, possibly, early September, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Courant, and DMV spokesman William K. Seymour confirmed that the conversion is in the final planning stage.

"To ensure that the public is aware" of when the date is set, "we will be launching a radio, television and advertising campaign for this, including social media" so that customers can plan accordingly, Seymour said. "We understand that this will be an inconvenience, but it is necessary for implementation of major improvements which will make dealing with DMV much faster and easier for the public."

The shutdown will run from a Tuesday through a Saturday, the DMV's normal week for providing services to the public. Driver licensing services, including road tests, will be maintained throughout that week, however.

Because the computer system is being converted, even online registration renewals will be unavailable during the week of the shutdown, Seymour said.

People who buy cars during that week in private transactions won't be able to register their cars. Provision will be made for car dealers to provide temporary registrations for new and used vehicles that they sell that week, Seymour said.

"We are also looking at extending the deadlines that people are given for renewing their licenses, registrations and other compliance issues they have with DMV," Seymour said. "We're doing this to help people through this change period and to lessen their inconvenience."

When the DMV reopens after the conversion, Seymour warned that "there may be some longer-than-usual waits" to begin with.

That has happened in other states in which comprehensive computer modernization's have occurred. The longer waits have lasted from a week or two to months in those states.

"We have rebuilt our computer systems so that they all talk to each other and can easily transfer information among them. This makes for quicker and more streamlined customer services. In addition, it also allows us to create new online services," Seymour said.

The DMV modernization project has involved integrating 14 million customer and vehicle records, many from old "legacy" computer systems, into the new system, Seymour said. About 40 millions lines of computer code had to be modified, he said.

Planning for the modernization began before 2010 under then-DMV Commissioner Robert Ward, and most of the project was done while Melody Currey was commissioner from 2011 to this past January. Commissioner Andres Ayala will bring the project into effect.

Once the DMV converts to the new system, Seymour said changes will include:

•Improving the existing online registration renewal program.

•Online checking for items that can hold up a registration renewal and cause repeat trips to DMV, such as unpaid property taxes, lack of insurance and delinquent parking violations.

•Reprinting a registration certificate from a home or other computer.

•Canceling a registration online.

•Ordering special plates, such as vanity plates, online.

•Ordering online replacements for damaged and mangled plates.

•Providing customers with an option for DMV to contact them by email instead of regular mail.

There will be further improvements in subsequent phases of the project that will "bring DMV into the 21st century," including changing addresses online instead of by mail, Seymour said.